Elvis Presley

Elvis Presley adalah legenda rock n roll yang berjaya pada era 50an.
Lagulagunya masih dikenal hingga saat ini. Sebut saja Cant help falling in love,
Love me tender, Hound Dog. Ciri khas Elvis selain gaya poni rambutnya,
adalah gaya berpakaiannya yang berani. Elvis ibaratkan Lady Gaga pada
eranya. Ia tidak pernah takut untuk tampil dengan warna-warna kostum yang
jreng dan model kostum yang unik. Sosok Elvis dianggap sebagai sosok yang
androgini, model rambutnya yang panjang dan berjambul, penggunaan maskara
seperti ingin menggambarkan sisi feminin, namun kharisma dan pembawaannya
serta daya tarik Elvis sangat jantan. Elvis sering kali menggunakan warna
merah muda pada kostumnya, warna wanita pada era 1950an, dan
menggunakan maskara serta eye shadow.
Salah satu kostumnya yang paling khas adalah jumpsuit nya yang memiliki
jubah di bagian belakang(cape). Jumpsuit Elvis memiliki belahan di bagian dada
yang cukup coak, dengan motif yang gemerlap dengan manik-manik.
Elviss appearance separated him from the typical male norms of the time, as
his face was almost pretty and his hairstyle resembled the female
pompadour when most males wore their hair short. Marjorie Garber, author of
Vested Interests: Cross-Dressing and Cultural Anxiety, writes, one of the
hallmarks of transvestic display, as we have seen recently, is the detachable
part. She goes on to describe how wigs, false breasts, and codpieces are used
to make a male look female or vice versa. Here Elvis also suggested at ideas of
cross gendering, as rumour [sic] had it that into his skin-tight jeans was sewn a
bar in order to suggest a weapon of heroic proportions. David Houston, a county
singer and friend of Elvis, supported this notion claiming before Elvis got on
stage he would tie a cardboard roller to a string around his waist and let it
hang down outside his drawers with the intention of appearing like he had one
helluva thing there inside his pants. However, Elviss manhood or sexuality is
not of uncertainty; rather, the question comes in asking why did he dress,
perform, and display himself in a way that violated gender norms?15
Elvis appealed to both sexes through his gender-destabilizing image, which
helped bring about less defined gender roles in America. His rabid teenage
following took after his lead, emulating Elviss androgynous style. In Grand
Rapids, Michigan, over one thousand girls cut their hair to look like Elviss in less
than six weeks, as teenage girls sought to resemble Elviss masculinity. On the
other side of the gender spectrum, males grew their hair long and parents feared
their sons would take after Elviss perceived feministic and homosexual qualities.
After Romeo Community High School suspended Robert Phernetton, a sixteen
year-old junior, for violating a school policy that prohibited students from wearing
the fancy hairdos and long sideburns favored by rock n roller Presley,
Phernetton defiantly proclaimed, Im still not going to get my hair cut. A sense
of panic enveloped the nations parents, as the socialization of middle-class

children in the 1950s was focused on assuring that boys and girls grew up with
gendered interests. Part of this fear stemmed from Elviss imitation of Liberace,
as Elvis became a cause of feminine virile display. Garber describes a famous
moment in 1956 when Elvis and Liberace themselves changed clothes, as
Elvis put on Liberaces gold-sequinned [sic] tuxedo jacket. Elvis continued to
wear costumes of feminine grandeur after this instance (Figure 2), rejecting the
accepted gender norms of the time. Society viewed him as a boy, a eunuch, or
a womanas anything but a man, and parents feared their childrens love for
an androgynous figure could lead to homosexuality.16
Elvis hinted at homosexuality at a time where heterosexuality was the
accepted norm,
homosexuality a closeted and mostly illicit deviance, and sex in general a taboo
topic. He
brought these unmentionable ideas to the forefront of American culture, much to
the elder
generations dismay. Parents experienced great anxiety over these notions, and
sons who were
not exposed to the influence of their fathers were considered at risk for
inappropriate gender
development, including homosexuality. Postwar America shunned
homosexuality, as the
specter of the invisible homosexual, like that of the invisible communist, haunted
Cold War
America, and a new wave of assaults on gay men in the postwar decade
began. Presleys
16Aint Nothin But A Hairdo: In Grand Rapids 1,000 girls trick up locks for love
of
Presley, Life, March 25, 1957, 55; Student Loses Court Fight For Presley-Type
Haircut,
Washington Post and Times Herald, November 17, 1956, p. A3; Coleman,
Ganong, and
Warzinik, 215; Garber, 363, 368.
14
perceived feministic qualities and challenging of traditional male behavior led
teenagers away
from conventional ideas of masculinity. He helped revolutionize ideas on gender,

foreshadowing
the escape from gender roles that occurred in the 1960s and 1970s. Elviss
sexually liquid
image influenced teenagers around the country, as they felt acceptable
crossing the once strict
gender line. Elvis taught males to embrace the feminine side of themselves,
while at the same
time encouraging females to pursue desired male traits. His overall message
seemed to preach
equality no matter ones sexual orientation, or, even more surprisingly, ones
race.17

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Elvis Presley adalah legenda rock n roll yang berjaya pada era 50an.

of panic enveloped the nations parents, as the socialization of middle-class

from conventional ideas of masculinity. He helped revolutionize ideas on gender,

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